Seeking For Happiness
by BBFTW
Summary: when Gray and Natsu meet with "mistress Lucy" in her mansion for a milk delivery  ?  they find out that its not really JUST any milk delivery...
1. Chapter 1: Despair

_first time uploading... i dont really get the format and all but welllll, enjoy ^^_

_the first chapter is sorta... a prologue ish thing... and its full of sadness and stuff but it get way better in the later chapters! i swear!_

Chapter One: Despair

_What just happened…? _ The cold air blew sediments of dust onto his body making Natsu flinch in pain as he felt the wound on his shoulder. Not long ago, he remembered watching Igneel as he took off into the sky for the fifth time that day… It was also the last time he has ever seen him.

Natsu limped over to his favorite place in the meadows; the warm feeling of sunlight touched his skin. He had a hard time figuring what exactly just happened. "_He left me." _Was circling in his head for the whole time._ Oww… dammit my shoulder hurts. _As Natsu drifted into his thoughts, he felt the pain disappearing.

Natsu slowly went to sleep with the scarf that was gifted to him by Igneel grasped tightly in his hands. The feel of the soft surface reassured him that Igneel was ok, that there was nothing to fear. _He'll be back_. Though he didn't notice the dark presence of violence happening not far away from those meadows.

-X+x+X+x+X-

The ice mage slashed a dozen shards of crystalized tree branches into the defenseless dragon's skin making the warm red fluid flow out of the wounded flesh. He was almost pushed off the tip of the ditch, only inches before he makes a journey into the sparkling blue liquid.

"Not so mighty are we now, Igneel?" smirked the evil presence as he commanded his ice to go into the shape of a bow and arrow making the final blow to the poor dragon.

"I…I'll re…member… this…" Igneel managed to say before lunging into the water.

"Heh, you weren't even the right match for me, and they call you "the legendary fire dragon"? Oh by the way, the names Gray, remember it." The Ice mage dusted off his leather jacket before taking off.

_That foolish mage… he was manipulated by Zeref. All he wants is power, there's no meaning in power if you don't have a heart. _Igneel felt a trickle of tear down his cheek before drenching into the salty sea. _I'm sorry… Natsu. I can't help you anymore…_

-X+x+X+x+X-

When Natsu woke up, the meadow was nowhere to be seen. This was a foreign place; one that he's never been to… and never would want to go to. Ashes flew everywhere, stinging his face with every movement. There was a fire. One that wasn't like the normal forest fires but one that indicates despair.

The trees were rotting and decomposing with every second that passes, there was no creature to be seen in the now dying forest.

"This couldn't be…" tears trickle down his cheeks as he remembered what Igneel once told him; _"when a guardian of a forest withers away or leaves, the forest would be in inevitable disaster. Fires would be roaring away and trees would be rotting. This is why there must be a guardian in every forest, to protect what's important to them. And to save those that need them." _Natsu stood there, anger rushing to his head as he choked out these simple words "I'll murder you… the one who killed my father."

Even though Igneel was only a dragon that took him in when Natsu needed him and also wanted to train him to become a dragon slayer, Natsu still thought of him as his own father. One that was there to teach him everything he needed to know. How could someone just… make him perish off the surface of the earth? He was really weak at that time, for his magic was used up to re-build the forest after a war between two guilds. Igneel needed to rest and obtain his magic back before fighting someone… how could they be so cruel?

-X+x+X+x+X-

"What's that? Your saying that it'll be a waste of time to go against a kid like me? Who do you think you are you obese chicken thing?" Gray challenged the pissed off sorcerer that was clearly making a death glare at him.

"You dare insult the great Chicow? (LOL random character I made up) If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you get." The Chicow lunged at Gray but missed slightly as gray dodged and planted a punch in the feathery creature's face and head-butting him to the walls.

This place was full of random creatures challenging one another into fights and gambles. The walls showed signs of scratches here and there and the florescent wallpaper was peeling off. There was a stench coming from who-knows-where and broken tables scattered all over the floors. A ledge was separating one half of the room from the other and a curtain door hung open for guests to come anytime.

Scrunching in pain, the Chicow grabbed Gray's hair and pushed him over to brake yet another mirror. Gray stood up, wiping excess blood from his mouth off with his shirt while making an ice hammer, squishing the Chicow under it.

"UNCLE! UNCLE! I concede!" the Chicow screamed in pain as the hammer slowly disappeared and when he looked up, there was Gray, smirking at yet another victory.

"Useless. Is there nobody that can match my power? And I came to this town to specially search for one too." Gray picked up his shirt and strolled out the guild, bored to death at another easy win.

It had been one year since he foolishly went up against the master of darkness, Zeref. He lost depressingly without the master even losing a sweat. And from then on, the raven-haired boy was determined to beat that powerful mage.

The darkness of what happened to his family caused him to become a twisted person. It was five years ago…

_-Flashback-_

"Hey, nii-chan, when are we going to go surfing? You promised that you would bring me there when we had spare time!" Gray pouted as his brother waved him out of his room.

"I'm busy, gray, some other time ok?" Gray's brother seemed to be busy searching frantically around his closet for something so Gray decided to not be a brat and listen to what his brother was saying.

He strolled outside to the nearby village along the grassy roads. The wind was calm and it's a sunny day outside today, so he thought that it would've been a great day for surfing. Gray spotted a cat and chased it all the way into the nearby forest where he stretched and took a little nap.

He woke up when he heard a THUMP coming from somewhere. He looked up and there, from the forest, he saw this gigantic monster thing destroying all the houses it sees in its path and clawing away at the innocent villagers.

All Gray could remember was blood and in a flash, the once beautiful and cheery village was reduced to dust at the monster's hands. It was terrifying. Gray looked all over for his family members to see if they're hurt and he found his big brother under a pile of ash and logs.

"NII-CHAN! ARE YOU OKAY?" Gray frantically pushed on the big log and pulled his big brother out.

"Answer me please…" gray sobbed and his eyes widened as he saw his mother and father with blood all over, their limp bodies making Gray look away and curl up into a ball. He sobbed in his shirt and inside his head, he thought that he needed to be stronger… he must take revenge for his family.

-_End of flashback-_

_weeeeeeeee~ time to upload another chapter :D plz R&R flames are welcome anytime :]  
_


	2. Chapter 2: milk delivery

Chapter two: Milk Delivery

"Hey ya little prick, if ya want to be a pain in the ass then I could only give ya one option, go to jail or pay up. The rent was due a week ag-… oh shit my muscles fell out!" The muscular looking man panicked after the rubber that was supposedly his muscles fell out of his sleeve and onto Natsu's head.

"What the… what is this stuff? If you want to look muscular, go to a frickin gym and train or something!" saying that only earned Natsu a death glare and an unsuspected punch in the face.

"What was that for?" Now he was mad. He threw his fist at the chunky man and he fell down to the hard cement floor at Natsu's feet.

The cottage was broken down but that was the only one that Natsu could afford renting. There were holes that needed mending and only one single room for Natsu to sleep and one tiny window on the left side that you could only see when you walk in the door. He's been working really hard to keep on the budget for his living but it still isn't enough to keep the gluttonous landlord happy.

Now that Mr. Chubby (yes Mr. Chubby. Its A nickname that Natsu made for the landlord) has fainted, Natsu regretted hitting him. He sounds all tough and gruff but that's not what he really is. Natsu dragged the man with only half of his muscles (and left the other one on the floor at his cottage) outside the door while Natsu packed and went on another mission.

This time it was to deliver a pack of really expensive milk to the "Heartfilla mansion". _Whoa, a mansion? These people must be rich… this milk costs more than one month of my living expense… _Natsu pondered around a little thinking for a while and then headed onwards to the place known as the Heartfilla mansion.

-X+x+X+x+X-

Natsu gaped at the giant castle-like building that was supposedly the Heartfilla family mansion… A giant silver gate separates the gold crested ivory castle-like building from outsiders and a line of flowers placed neatly on each side of the building welcomes Natsu. A nice looking old lady asks him if he's here for the milk delivery and Natsu only manages to nod in agreement because this mansion is just too brilliant for words.

"Oh my… he he he, well looks like you're petrified with the master's mansion hm? This is only a separate part of the main building, you could say, this is his daughter's house."_ NO FRICKIN WAY! The main building is even bigger than this one? You rich people seriously don't know where to spend your money… _Natsu walked hesitantly into the giant red leather door leading into the mansion with his jaw still dropped at how big this place is.

"Miss Lucy, your milk delivery is here." The old lady knocked on the door and out came a young lady dressed in overly exaggerated frilly clothes.

"Oh crap. Ugh, I'm still wearing my pajamas…" the old lady gave an intense glare over to the young mistress which made her flinch a little and say: "umm… forget what I said… anyway, come in and have some tea or something. I'm gonna go change my clothes first." Natsu didn't know what was going on but went with the old lady to a room that looked like a closet but was way too huge to be one… It was filled with cool clothes, the old lady told Natsu to try some on.

"My, such a handsome young man!" The old lady chirped as Natsu came out wearing a tuxedo and a black silk tie.

"Um… can you tell me why I'm wearing this? I only came here for a milk delivery…"

"Now don't be silly, you should've read the post. It says "milk delivery marriage assignment: get a handsome young boy to the Heartfilla family to heir the fortunes and take the young mistress Lucy's hand in marriage. There will be four quests to finish for you to pass."

"WHAT." Natsu started cold sweating and remembering what the poster said… no wonder there were so many people grabbing at a chance for a single milk delivery…

-X+x+X+x+X-

_Where the hell am I going? _Gray walked aimlessly along the gravel road to complete the stupid mission that he found lying around on the streets in town. The pay was a frickin 200,000,000 J! How could he pass out the chance to get rich just thrown at him for free? The milk IS only 200,000 J… the pay is way more than the milk itself. _There's no end to this stupid road… _Gray walked up to a clearing after hundreds of hours of walking, there, he spots a chunk of white stuff.

As he got nearer to the chunk, it looked more like a building. A really big one actually… _whoa are those gates made of real silver?_

"Hey, lemme in, I'm here for the milk delivery thing." Gray knocked on the big gate and was answered by an obese and midgety man.

"Yes, come in come in sir this way yes follow me please." The midgety man said without even taking a break for a breath. _Now he is probably the weirdest person I have ever met. _

The man showed Gray to a big closet room filled with retarded suits and stuff that looked like it was for some type of butler play.

"Do I have to wear that…?"

"Yes please it would be very rude if you don't wear a nice suit to see the mistress during the interview quest" _oh god… well 200,000,000 J is worth it all_. Gray hesitantly went in the room to change into the stupid butler clothes. _I don't look so bad in these_. He was directed to another room, except this time it was even bigger.

A giant chandelier hangs over a dining table that looks like it fits 50 people or something and the walls are elegantly incrusted with silver linings. There are guards on each side of the double doors and they welcomed Gray with a salute of some sort. _Who's that? _Gray looked over to Natsu's direction and felt like he somehow knew the young pink haired boy.

He was petite looking, though everyone looks small in Gray's eyes… And he had a scale like scarf around his neck. _Wasn't he supposed to be in those retarded butler clothes? Why's he still wearing a scarf…? _

-X+x+X+x+X-

_"Now now, Mr. Natsu, sir, it wouldn't be polite to wear a scarf while meeting up with the young mistress would it? I promise that I would take excellent care of your scarf!" The old lady pleaded as Natsu looked like there was no way in hell he would give them his scarf. He didn't trust them; in fact, he didn't trust anyone after what happened only four months ago. He only trusted Igneel, no one else._

Natsu was standing on a carpet in the left corner of the huge room as he was told to. There were two other people with him in there except they were munching away at the food on the tables.

The double doors opened with a click and in came a raven-haired boy wearing a suit and a scrunched up tie, his cuffs were unbuttoned and he wore a scowl on his face. Natsu noticed that the raven-haired boy was staring at him, which made Natsu turn around, and act as if he didn't notice the stare (or was that a glare?) locked on him with the dark eyes of that person.

"Ok then since we have all the contestants gathered up in the meeting room, I will introduce you to one another. First off, this is Mr. Bobby Bob Bobbert." The old lady points over to a skinny and tall man dressed in a red velvet tuxedo gnawing away at a chicken leg.

"And the second contestant, Timmy Thompson." He was a short and stubby nosed figure with a pair of glasses across the bridge of his nose. He was wearing… a green tuxedo… with buttons and pockets all over the place and a badge on the left side of his arm saying, "come one and all to buy some fishy Joe's delicious and healthy seafood!" …Which creeped Natsu out not just because of the weird badge but also because he was glaring at Natsu as if he just stole a chicken leg from the stubby nosed dude.

"The third contestant is the handsome looking young man named Gray Fullbuster" The old lady gleamed as she pointed over to the raven-haired boy. _So his name's Gray huh…_

"And the last contestant is the cute Natsu Dragoneel" She smiled as she pointed over to me.

"Now that we have all the retards… Ahem, the _contestants_ gathered, I can explain the rules. There are two quests you must complete before entering the last battle. The first quest is called FIND. You must each find a specified special item in order to pass." The one named Bobby snickered and stated,

"Heh, that's hella easy, just a special item right? Anyone could do that!"

"Shut up you annoying bastard, the game isn't that easy." The young mistress named Lucy glared at Bobby making him flinch and mutter "sheesh… talk about stuck up…"

"I HEARD that! Now each of you will receive a card from Mr. Jill stating what special item with a clue. The boundaries will be inside this mansion so if you go outside it will be a violation of the rules… you will get severely punished for that. Now let the games BEGIN."

"_What have I gotten myself into…?"_ Gray and Natsu thought at the exact same moment and sighed.


	3. Chapter 3:WTF? SPIDER MAN!

WOO! new chapter! this story's dragging way too long... i dont even know how i should end it -.-

typed this up in class while i was SUPPOSED to do a powerpoint... meh thats just boring. I WANT MY RED ENVELOPES FOR NEW YEARS! NOW!

alright enough with my ranting. on with the storyy!

Chapter Three: WTF? SPIDER MAN!

_What the hell… these directions don't make any damned sense! _Gray wandered aimlessly around the giant Heartfilla mansion with the confusing clue card held in his hands. Walking around in the endless halls gave him the chills… But most importantly, he had to get that frickin "Green colored rubber band".

"WAIT A MINUTE WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND A RUBBER BAND DAMMIT? IT COULD BE ANYWHERE! If you wanted a frickin green rubber band I could've just painted one…" Gray growled angrily in the empty halls and continued walking and staring at the seriously confusing rhyme:

_-On the clue card- _

_The item you wish to seek _

_Is not far away from the peak. _

_Go find the crimson rug _

_It will of course give you luck,_

_Just be careful of the giant man eating bug._

"WTF. Man-eating bug? Are you kiddin…" Before Gray could finish his sentence, something jumped on him and made him do a face plant onto the… Crimson rug? _Is this what they indicated on the poem? _

"FEAR MEH UGLINESS!" The figure that jumped on him appeared to be… holding scissors?

"What is this, a clown show?" Gray spun his head around to stare right into the eyes of the eight-legged man who was using scissors to pin him down.

The weird spider-man like figure had his hair in a weird curly fashion like two straight up pointy things…

"I am the man-eating bug!"

"…The hell…enough with this, die you weird spider shit!" Gray Lunged his foot at him with a power-up of ice flames around his leg and knocked spider-man over to a table at the right of the hallway. The spider-man flipped three times in the air and did a perfect two-feet landing on the table. He didn't seem like he had taken any damage…

"HOHOHO! Ice doesn't…" before he could finish speaking, gray yelled,

"ICE MAKE, GIANT BOULDER OF ICE!" the boulder came crashing down at spider-man and mushed him underneath. Though he was squished, he still managed to break open the ice and the shatters of ice came flying back at Gray instead.

"What the hell are you?" Gray managed to yell while avoiding the sharp obstacles flying at him.

"I am one of the celestial spirits~ Cancer's the name~" Gray jumped up and ricocheted between the two walls in the hallway to land a face-punch directly on Cancer's face.

"I don't care what you are, spider shit! JUST GIVE ME THE DAMNED GREEN RUBBER BAND!" Gray stepped on the lobster/spider thingy's stomach and had the "give me whatever the crap I'm supposed to get and scram!" look on his face.

"Alright… alright! Chillax man!" Cancer stood up rubbing his aching abdomen and handing over a shiny piece of green rubber band.

"Heh, score!" Gray took the rubber band and cheered in victory, not noticing the band slowly wrapping itself around his arm…

-X+x+X+x+X-

_The golden key is hidden deep beneath._

_In the basement downstairs facing the Christmas wreath._

_Now getting the prize isn't very easy young one,_

_So don't chicken out and decide to run!_

_ Goddamn… who's the "young one"?_ Natsu stuffed the piece of paper in his left pants pocket and walked all the way down to the basement as the clue card told him. Yes, he was pissed. Not only at the stupid clue card but also at the "young mistress" for dragging him into this _wedding_ shenanigan. If only he hadn't been tempted by the pay…

**CRASH**. _WHAT WAS THAT? _Natsu ran over to the place he heard the giant crash sound from and gasped.

"Wh…what the… hell… Since when did… The rubber band…" Gray was bound to a giant green rubber band that was twisting its way around Gray's body. He was struggling to be free of the evil green band but isn't having any luck and crashing everywhere. There was a spider like figure smirking at Natsu has he came to the hallway.

"Shit… you, Natsu, help me here…!" Gray kept struggling but that just made the rubber band bind even tighter, his wrists were bleeding and he fell to the ground as the spider-like man pointed a finger. _He's controlling the rubber band…_

Natsu thought of a plan, if he could distract the spider-man, Gray would be rid of the binding spell. Natsu jumped up to grab onto the chandelier that was hanging above their heads and swing-kicked the spider-man. Gray then broke free of the rubber band in all that confusion and sat on Cancer, making him belly-flop to the ground.

"MY NOSE! Oww… fine you win…" The green rubber band went back to its original form and Gray grabbed it so that the same thing won't happen again…

"Hey, your Natsu right? Thanks for helping me…" Gray's sentence trailed off as he saw the familiar features of the dragon that he slayed not too long ago… He flinched as he thought once again of Natsu's last name… "Dragoneel". Igneel… _No way. _Gray was petrified on the spot staring at Natsu.

"Um… you ok? Why are u staring at me like that?" Natsu looked at Gray in confusion; there was obviously something wrong the way Gray flinched as he said those words.

_It was a mistake… I wasn't myself back then… the power consumed me and I committed a huge sin. I killed the fire dragon Igneel. I should've known what happened before I challenged him… he was very weak at that time and I didn't know that I would kill him! This… Natsu… could he be the one that the dragon Igneel took care of? _

"It… its nothing. Just go find your item so we can get out of this jail."

"I don't get the clue card though. And isn't the competition so that whoever **_wins _**has to marry Lucy? I'd rather not."

"There is a punishment for the last person/the person that looses the whole game you know…"

"WHAT. Oh shit… well I should get moving and find my item…" Natsu walked over to the staircase and walked down towards the basement.

Gray shuddered, not wanted to know what happens if Natsu finds out about the murdering of Igneel. He truly regretted having done that to Igneel but what was done, is done. There's no going back now...

-X+x+X+x+X-

plz review ^^ then i might type up a new chapter faster! ;D


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